Ankita Raina Wiki, Height, Age, Boyfriend, Family, Biography & More

Ankita Raina is an Indian professional tennis player. Raina earned a gold medal in the 2016 South Asian Games, both in women’s singles and mixed doubles tennis tournaments. In April 2018, in singles, she was ranked among the top 200 international players and attained the fifth position among the top Indian women tennis players with her remarkable achievements over the years. In 2021, Raina represented India in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

They were not willing to let her participate at first since she was only eight and it was Under-10. But I insisted because there was no minimum age limit and we wanted her to play. Ankita then went on to beat the then Maharashtra No 1 Surabhi Varma, who was 14 years at the time, causing a huge upset.”

In 2007, Ankita participated in the Under-14 Asian Tennis Series. During these series, she played various tournaments in India and within Asia and won the series. Later, Ankita got selected among the top eight tennis players of Asia after winning the Under-14 Asian Tennis Series. Soon after this achievement, she received the opportunity to play at Melbourne Park, the venue of the Australian Open, and she defeated her South Korean opponent in the finals. In 2009, Ankita started playing tennis professionally at the International Tennis Federation (ITF) tournaments in Mumbai. Till the end of 2010, she continued playing the local ITF events and tournaments with limited victories. Ankita defeated her opponent and World No. 4 tennis player, Samantha Stosur, at the US Open in 2011. In an interview, after winning the event, Ankita said,

I started crying. I had a flashback of everything that I had gone through all these years. On the third match point that I won, I just told myself ‘believe, it is now or never, and grab the opportunity.”

In 2011, Ankita, along with her partner Aishwarya Agrawal, won three ITF circuit finals in doubles events. In 2012, Ankita Raina won her first professional singles match in New Delhi. In the same year, three more double matches were successfully won by Ankita in New Delhi. Ankita played mediocrely for the next few years at the ITF Circuit championships. Then, in 2017 Ankita won two quarterfinal matches of her career in the Mumbai Open Tennis Championships. Ankita Raina attained the 181st world ranking in women singles after winning the Mumbai Open $25k title. She was ranked at the fifth position In India after Nirupama Sanjeev, Sania Mirza, Shikha Uberoi, and Sunitha Rao, the renowned Indian women tennis players. Ankita participated in the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta, Indonesia, and won a bronze medal in singles championships. Ankita is regarded as the second woman from India after Sania Mirza who won a WTA-level title in singles in Asian Games. In the same year, Ankita won the doubles event along with Karman Kaur Thandi at the 2018 OEC Taipei WTA Challenger.

In 2019, Ankita participated in the ITF W25 title in the ITF women’s tennis tournament in Singapore and won the finals by defeating her opponent Arantxa Rus, a Dutch tennis player. In January 2019, Ankita lost the match at the Australian Open. In May 2019, Ankita lost the match while playing against the American tennis player Coco Gauff at the French Open. In June 2019, Ankita played for the ITF Surbiton Trophy in London and won the match by defeating her opponent Sabine Lisicki, former Wimbledon finalist. In 2019, Raina lost both events at the Wimbledon Championships and the US Open. In October 2019, Ankita Raina played the finals of the 2019 Suzhou Ladies Open along with her partner Rosalie van der Hoek but couldn’t win the match. Ankita was playing this Suzhou Ladies Open match after attaining the top 150 doubles rankings in international tournaments. In 2020, Ankita gave disappointing performances in a few matches of the Australian Open as she was not well due to the Australian bushfires. Later, in the same year, she performed well and won two back-to-back doubles titles along with her partner Bibiane Schoofs in Nonthaburi, Thailand.

Ankita Raina lost the 2021 Australian Open in doubles along with her partner Mihaela Buzarnescu while playing against Olga Danilović. After Nirupama Sanjeev, Nirupama Mankad, and Sania Mirza, Ankita Raina became the fourth Indian tennis player who represented India in the main Grand Slam after playing the event at the Australian Open. Ankita won the Women’s Tennis Association singles at the 2021 Philip Island Trophy. It was her first WTA singles match, and she defeated her opponent Elisabetta Cocciaretto of Italy by 5–7, 6–1, 6–2. However, in the same season, Kimberly Birrell of Australia defeated Ankita in another single match. In 2021, Ankita, along with Kamilla Rakhimova, won her first WTA final doubles at the Phillip Island Trophy by defeating her opposite pair of Anastasia Potapova and Anna Blinkova. After this victory, Ankita became the second Indian female tennis player who won the WTA title in doubles after Sania Mirza. Ankita attained the 94th world tennis ranking after this win and stood at the third position in India after Sania Mirza and Shikha Uberoi. In 2021, at the Abierto Zapopan tournaments, Ankita Raina defeated her opponent, the former fifth position holder, Sara Errani. At the 2021 French Open, Ankita Raina lost the singles match in the second round, and the doubles in the same season. In the 2021 Nottingham Open Trophy, Ankita reached the semifinals of the season, but she lost the singles match while playing against Varvara Lepchenko of America. In the same series, she lost in the first round of the doubles along with her partner Lauren Davis. In 2021, Raina was selected to represent India in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics that were earlier postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Tennis Statistics

• Plays: Right-handed (two-handed backhand)

• Career record (Singles): 288–231 (55.5%)

• Career titles (Singles): 11 ITF

• Highest ranking (Singles): No. 160 (2 March 2020)

• Career record (Doubles): 215–178 (54.7%)

• Career titles (Doubles): 1 WTA, 1 WTA 125K, 18 ITF

• Highest ranking (Doubles): No. 93 (17 May 2021)

• Grand Slam Singles results: Australian Open: Q3 (2021), French Open: Q2 (2020, 2021), Wimbledon: Q2 (2018, 2019), US Open: Q2 (2019)

• Grand Slam Doubles results: Australian Open: 1R (2021), French Open: 1R (2021), Wimbledon: 1R (2021)

Medals

• In the Asian Games, she won a Bronze medal – third place in 2018 at Jakarta–Palembang in Women’s Singles.

• In the South Asian Games, she won a Gold medal – first place in 2016 at Guwahati–Shillong in Women’s Singles.

• In the South Asian Games, she won a Gold medal – first place in 2016 at Guwahati–Shillong in Mixed Doubles.

Favourites

• Movie: Chak De! India (2007)

• TV Program: Sarabhai vs Sarabhai

• Food: Pani Puri and Fish (prepared in Indian Style)

• City: Ahmedabad and London

• Sports Persons: Rafael Nadal, Serena Williams & Sania Mirza

• Books: Queen of the court by Daniel Paisner and Serena Williams

• Bollywood Actor: Akshay Kumar

• Most Cherished Award: Sardar Patel Eklavya Award given by Gujarat Government

• Most loved possession: Tennis Racquets

Facts/Trivia

• Her full name is Ankita Ravinderkrishan Raina. ^[4]Sports NDTV

•  She follows a non-vegetarian diet. ^[5]Physio Times

•  Apart from English, Ankita also speaks Hindi, Gujarati, and Kashmiri languages fluently.

• When Ankita was four years old, she used to watch her elder brother Ankur playing tennis from the window of their house. Ankur used to practice tennis at a club near to their home. Ankita’s mother was also a college-level athlete during her studies. Ankita used to accompany Ankur to the tennis club when she was very young. In an interview, Ankita revealed that when she first picked up a racket, her height was exactly similar to that of the racket. She said,
  

  I was the height of the racket.”

  

  Ankita Raina while playing tennis at a very early age

• Ankita and her elder brother Ankur used to play tennis at the PYC Gymkhana during their school vacations at their relatives’ place in Pune, Maharashtra. Hemant Bendre, an Indian tennis coach, used to train the players at the PYC Gymkhana. Ankita and Ankur noticed that several Gujarati tennis players were getting trained under him and improving their skills. soon, Ankita enrolled herself at PYC and began her tennis coaching under coach Hemant Bendre while she was living with her maternal grandmother in Mumbai.
  

  Ankita with her coach Hemant Bendre at the PYC Gymkhana in Pune

• In 2007, after conquering the Australian Open title, Ankita received the opportunity to play international events and championships. She went alone to various International tournaments. Initially, her father accompanied her to Jordan and Syria but at the age of thirteen, she toured alone to Sri Lanka for tennis tournaments. According to her parents, these journeys made Ankita a more independent person and player. In an interview, Ankita’s mother said,
  

  We thought Sri Lanka will be a safe option to start. We were initially very worried, her kit back was huge and heavy but she managed it all on her own.”

• Ankita Raina gave her secondary school final examinations privately. She had to skip her school classes for playing tournaments. In senior secondary examinations, she scored 69 per cent, even playing an ITF tournament between her two board papers.

• In December 2019, Ankita Raina was honoured with a trophy for her excellence in her field of interest by the Chief Minister of Gujarat Vijay Rupani and Sports Minister of Gujarat Ishwarsinh Patel at the closing ceremony of Khel Maha Kumbh.
  

  Ankita Raina while receiving a trophy from the Chief Minister of Gujarat in 2019